Olympic marathon runner who was set on fire dies in hospital – after being victim of petrol attack from ex-boyfriend
Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has succumbed to horrendous injuries sustained after she was doused in petrol and set alight in her home.
Cheptegei, 33, suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body in the brutal attack allegedly carried out by her ex-boyfriend, according to medical officials.
She was rushed to the intensive care unit at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, in the hopes doctors could stabilise her.
But the hospital’s acting director Dr Owen Menach this morning confirmed Cheptegei died on Wednesday night.
‘Unfortunately, we lost her after all her organs failed last night,’ Menach said, as reported by Kenyan newspaper The Star.
Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei (centre), has died in hospital, it has been announced
Cheptegei won the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand in 2022
The horrific incident took place just weeks after Cheptegei had taken part in the marathon at the Paris Olympics, where she placed 44th.
Kenyan police confirmed the runner was attacked at her house in western Trans Nzoia County, close to the Ugandan border, where she had recently relocated to be closer to superior Kenyan training facilities.
Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said her former partner — alleged to be ex-boyfriend Dickson Ndiema — had bought a can of petrol, poured it on her and set her ablaze during a disagreement on Sunday.
Her father Joseph Cheptegei, speaking earlier this week from hospital alongside his other daughter Evalyne Chelagat, claimed that the two were fighting over her land at Endebes in Trans Nzoia shortly before the alleged attack occurred.
‘They were just friends and I wonder why he wanted to take away things belonging to my daughter,’ Cheptegei Snr told The Star, revealing also that his daughter’s two children are fathered by a different man living in Uganda.
He went on to claim that Cheptegei and Ndiema — who he alleges have been separated for a long time — are involved in a case being investigated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kenya.
According to Cheptegei Snr and Police Commander Kosiom, the ex-boyfriend sneaked into his daughter’s home to stage the attack.
‘The boyfriend is believed to have sneaked into the compound at around 2pm on Sunday while the wife and the children were in Church,’ Kosiom said, as per the Kenyan newspaper The Standard.
‘Upon returning, Dickson, who had procured petrol, began pouring it on Rebecca before he set her ablaze.
‘The couple were heard quarrelling outside their house. During the altercation, the boyfriend was seen pouring a liquid on the woman before burning her.
‘The suspect was also caught by the fire and sustained serious burns.’
According to Menach, the alleged ex-boyfriend attacker has also been admitted to the same hospital with 30 per cent burns.
(From L to R) Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru, Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, Uganda’s Rebecca Cheptegei and Kenya’s Selly Chepyego Kaptich compete in the women’s marathon final during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on August 26, 2023
Cheptegei, pictured, finished 44th in the women’s marathon at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Meanwhile, Kenyan media reported that one of Cheptegei’s daughters witnessed the assault at her mother’s home.
‘He kicked me while I tried to run to the rescue of my mother,’ Kenya’s The Standard reported her as saying.
‘I immediately cried out for help, attracting a neighbour who tried to extinguish the flames with water, but it was not possible,’ said the girl, who has not been named.
The fatal assault on Cheptegei comes two years after Kenyan-born athlete Damaris Mutua was found dead in Iten, a world-famous running hub in the Rift Valley.
And in 2021, record-breaking Kenyan runner Agnes Tirop, 25, was found stabbed to death at her home in Iten in 2021.
Her estranged husband is on trial over her murder, and has denied the charges.
Latest figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics published in January 2023 found that 34 percent of women in the country had experienced physical violence since the age of 15.